Need good SCHEDULE from driving from NJ to florida

I've read through a lot of suggestions and tips from driving from NJ to Florida to get to walt disney world.

What I'm looking for specifically is a nice schedule based on your experience. Namely, what time do you leave in order to avoid rush hours in various cities along the way?
Where do you stop for an overnight stay? Is it safe, are there local sights, etc.

Hi. Not sure what part of NJ you are from, but I am near Atlantic City, about an hour and 10 minutes from the Delaware Memorial Bridge, after which I pick up 95 south. You can judge your trip by how long it would take you to reach this same spot from your home. I have been leaving early morning, 2:30 am. I am unable to drive through the night, but can get up a few hours earlier like this without getting drowsy/falling asleep behind the wheel! So this works best for me. By leaving this time, I am passing DC at 5:30 am, and am in NC 8-8:30 am. Then in the Orlando area by 6:30-8:30 PM depending on stops, traffic, weather, etc. As you can see, I don't stop on the way down anymore with this schedule so can't help you with overnight stops.

Let me know if you would like any other info. There is a also a long-standing 200 mile plus driving thread on this board which you can read.

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We have left different times of day, but my favorite is early morning - anywhere between 6 - 8 am. That way you have plenty of time to stop for gas, eat, stretch your legs and still get there by night. If you're not in a rush to get there in one day, I would recommend driving as far as you can (when we had to leave 2pm two years ago we drove to Hilton Head, SC) stay over night, and then drive the last 4 hours in the morning. That was with one child - have two now so I'm not sure how he ride will be this time but we plan on tryin to go straight through. Good luck to you!

Just one tip about Washington, DC traffic. If you're going south, the morning is best. That's because the real traffic problems are in Northern Virginia, not Maryland. In the morning, try to arrive at the Beltway, where Rt. 95 joins it, either before 6:00 am or after 9:00 am and always, always go to the East on the Beltway at that time of day. In the morning the heavy traffic on Rt. 95 in Northern Virginia is into the city and you will be going out of the city so you should have smooth sailing.

Thanks for posting this question - I was about to ask the same thing Did you already take your trip? We did not want to drive straight thru - so we were looking for safe, clean place to stay overnight. Any information is greatly appreciated.

It has been many years since we have driven as the older we got we found we had to stop more to stretch our legs. We would leave somewhere in the 12am - 1am time. It was tough but by going to bed earlier and earlier as the time gets close and going to bed around 6 the night you leave it is doable. I don't know if you are going with kids or not but as the kids got older we let them stay up until it was time to leave. Sometimes they made it sometimes not but it made for a mostly peaceful ride as they would sleep most of the day. We coordinated stops for gas with meal times and ate at McDonalds or whatever was quick. We would land in Jacksonville around 4pm and would either spend the night there or continue on to St Augustine and spend the night there. Went to sleep early and woke earlly around 5 - 6. It is about a 2hr drive to Disney. That way we only spent 1 day on the road and were fresh for our first full day at Disney. Coming home was another story. DH insisted that we drive straight through (left between 4am/5am) because he didn't want to spend the night in Virginia or closer. Felt we were close enough to get home without staying over. I don't know how he did it because he drove almost all but 2hrs of the trip coming and going. We ended up getting home around midnight. I don't know where you are in NJ but we live in So. Jersey near Cherry Hill.

Thanks Nohal Seems 16 hours of driving time - does that sound about right?

We live near Cherry Hill so the times you posted are a great help.
We are traveling with kids and we are considering leaving around 12 noon (1/2 day of school) then driving to Lumberton NC (seems like a 1/2 way point) sleeping over and continuing the next day. The other driver & I would prefer not to drive thru the night.

Thanks Nohal Seems 16 hours of driving time - does that sound about right?

We live near Cherry Hill so the times you posted are a great help.
We are traveling with kids and we are considering leaving around 12 noon (1/2 day of school) then driving to Lumberton NC (seems like a 1/2 way point) sleeping over and continuing the next day. The other driver & I would prefer not to drive thru the night.

Has anyone tried this before?

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We never drive during the night! Our first time, we left(outside Princeton) at 3AM to avoid all of the DC traffic and drove all the way to Brunswick, GA. Got there by 6PM and were wiped.... 2nd time, we left here around noon and drove to Florence, SC to stop for the night, we arrived around 11PM. That is our preferred route to stop in Florence, SC. There are plenty of places to eat and stay. We always make ressies at the Holiday Inn Express in Florence, SC on the way down and stop in Fayetteville on the way home. Those seem more midway for us. We've driven 4 times now, and personally I'm not a fan, but DH enjoys it and does the majority of the driving. Since we're stuck to mostly school vacations now, we've been flying lately. I hate WDW in the summers......

We drove for the first time last August (2011), my DH plows snow in the winter so he is used to driving all night!

We left at 5:00pm drove until about 8:00 pm and had dinner and got gas then drove until about 1:30am for more gas and to stretch, continued on untill about 8:00 am and stopped for breakfast. We checked into the Boardwalk by 10:30 am. The great thing about driving all night is that we put our DD into her PJ's after dinner and she slept straight through so we didn't here are we almost there yet!

When I was a kid we'd leave western PA or Washington DC (two areas we lived) and with both, we'd get up at 4AM and be on the road by 5 at the latest. Without a trailer we would get to WDW roughly 8-9PM and almost every time would hit rush hour in Jacksonville but thats it. With a trailer push back that arrival time to 9-11PM depending on traffic. Personally I like to fly (comes with flying for a living I guess) but with 6 people in a van its cheaper to just rotate 2 drivers and plow on through in 1 day.

We drove for the first time last August (2011), my DH plows snow in the winter so he is used to driving all night!

We left at 5:00pm drove until about 8:00 pm and had dinner and got gas then drove until about 1:30am for more gas and to stretch, continued on untill about 8:00 am and stopped for breakfast. We checked into the Boardwalk by 10:30 am. The great thing about driving all night is that we put our DD into her PJ's after dinner and she slept straight through so we didn't here are we almost there yet!

We live near rt. 18 so we took that to 95.

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We follow a similar plan. We leave around 7pm after dinner and the kids get in the car in their pjs. It is good to keep the kids on their sleep schedule and give the driver some quiet time.

We're back Fantastic vacation! We left NJ @ 9 am stayed over night in Santee SC (arrived there around 830 pm) had a good nights sleep then left for Disney around 830 - drove under the Disney arch by 3 pm Just wanted to let anyone making the trek about the timing....Thanks for the tips & advice

We drive from Central Jersey every year, and have done a few variables.

Worst being: Letting the kids stay for 1/2 day and leaving at 12:30ish! Nightmare on 95 would NEVER do again, and drove straight thru.

Most times leave at 2 am cruise right through, ( occasional stop for accidents) and make it to Savannah Georgia around 2-3 ish. My favorite choice because we have the day to relax by pool, eat dinner, early bed, breakfast and on road by 8, and in Disney by 12 noon. Will be doing this in 30 days!!

Last year left after dinner, no sleep and by the time 2 am came we were tired, stopped for like 4 hours sleep and moved on.... need more sleep so I am not cranky and my kids were off, not planning to do that again..

Have never tried a full night sleep and leave at 9 am maybe some year, when we are older.